Lost Up a Tree – Saying “Yes, and…” to Jesus Week 2 (Luke 19: 1-10)
In our scripture reading for this week, we meet a Bible character who is very well known, but only appears in scripture here, in this brief story. His fame can be attributed to a well-known children’s Sunday School song about him and his encounter with Jesus. So, if you spent time in Sunday school as a child, think back to that time. From the frame of mind from of the Sunday school student version of you, if I asked you to fill in this blank, “Zacchaeus was a ___”? You would probably respond by saying “a wee little man.” And if you were really in a proper Sunday school frame of mind, another part of you might respond, “and a wee little man was he!”
Now, I don’t know if they still sing that song in Sunday school classes. Its possible, but I would imagine calling Zacchaeus a “wee little man” is not considered PC, and it certainly isn’t inclusive language. And kids today see through that stuff. Beyond that, the song doesn’t really tell us the most important things about this man Zacchaeus. I’m not aware of a bible translation that uses the words “wee little” to describe Zacchaeus, maybe there’s a Scottish one somewhere. It does describe him as being shorter and small in stature, and this fact comes into play later in the story, but it is not the primary thing we are meant to know about Zacchaeus. The first, and most important thing we are told about Zacchaeus is that he is a tax collector, and then that he is rich. Both facts are meant to be strikes against him.
In the Gospel of Luke, the rich are often a target of derision, they are painted as antagonists. In fact, just before this story, in chapter 18 of Luke we can read the well-known encounter between Jesus and the rich young man. The one he tells to give up his possessions because it will be hard, almost impossible, for a rich man to enter heaven. This sums up Luke’s attitude toward rich people throughout most of the book. This makes Zacchaeus different from the character we met last week, the unnamed woman who anoints Jesus’ feet with her tears. In the case of that woman, she was rejected by the social and religious elites of her community. Zaccheus on the other hand is one of those elites, and he is disliked and rejected by the common people, or the folks lower down on the social ladder. So, they are similar because they face rejection, but different in the reasons for that rejection and the part of the community doing the rejecting.
The other strike against Zacchaeus is that he is a tax collector, and this makes him disliked by his community. The job of the tax collector was to pay taxes to the Romans. The Romans would come to the tax collector, and he would pay them up front. Then the tax collector would go about the business of collecting the taxes. The system was ripe for abuse, as the collectors usually over-collected to turn a profit for themselves. So, for Zacchaeus to be recognized as a particularly rich tax man, implies that he must have been really ripping people off. Furthermore, the money paid to the Romans went to propping up the empire’s occupation of that territory. So, not only was the tax collector ripping people off, but they were also contributing to the oppression the community. All this adds up to the conclusion that Zacchaeus must be a really rotten guy.
However, in this story he is not doing any of that. When we find Zacchaeus, he scrambling to do something, but it’s not to collect taxes or rip people off. He is trying his hardest to find a way to see this Jesus he has heard so much about. This is where Luke tells us about his stature. His shorter size makes it difficult to see over and around the crowd. This is what leads him to try and climb a tree, to get a better view. This connects the story back to another incident from Luke’s Gospel when Jesus has an encounter with a blind beggar. This man also cannot see and has to fight against a crowd in order to get close to Jesus. And, as he will do towards Zacchaeus, Jesus finds this man in the crowd and reaches out to him.
Zacchaeus show us that we can say yes to Jesus even when we have natural or circumstantial limitations. His height and the large crowd were limitations and obstacles for Zacchaeus in his attempt to see Jesus. Climbing the tree was his brick, his offering, his “yes, and…” moment. And it wasn’t simply a matter of putting in that extra effort to get closer to Jesus. Zaccheus is also offering something, by way of giving something up. Later on in the story he will give up money -lots and lots of money- in order to be a follower of Jesus, but here, in the beginning of the story he is giving up something that is likely just as valuable to him: his dignity. Someone of his social status could not be seen running through a crowd, or worse, climbing a tree like a child. No doubt the people in the crowd who noticed him got a good laugh at seeing the hated tax collector run and climb a tree, activities that were below his station. Yet these things do not seem to cross his mind. Zacchaeus is focused on finding Jesus. This is the first instance of saying “yes, and…” that begins to transform Zacchaeus’ life. Yes, I want to know Jesus, and I will let go of my old identity, my old public persona, to make that happen. In the end, the point of this story is that we learn that Jesus seeks out and finds what is lost, which includes sinful women, and blind beggars, but also rich, important men of the community who are involved in supporting an oppressive system. Men such as that are lost too, and Jesus sets out to find them.
In that way, this story shows us that God’s grace extends to everyone. We don’t have to be afraid to say yes because we are worried about having to let our guard down, or behave in undignified ways that might leave us open to judgement by others. Isn’t it true that this sort of fear can hold us back? We live in this world that has certain expectations and realities. We can so easily fall into bad habits, or even, corrupt behavior, as Zacchaeus did, but we ignore it because it benefits us in some way, or makes us feel good. We come to identify with our material possessions and what they say about us. Or perhaps we identify more with the righteous ideologies we align with. Whatever the case, our possessions, our activities, our opinions, our beliefs, all come together to help us form the self-image we project to the world. This image that helps us understand ourselves and our place in the world, and we think, helps the world understand us better as well. Or, helps the world understand us the way we want to be understood. Then, for some us, comes the day when we hear about Jesus. About his love for the world, his promise of forgiveness, salvation, and new life. It sounds good, but we realize that some of it is bumping against our view of ourselves and the world. We question what we might have to do to respond.
Zacchaeus responded by standing before Jesus. Finding a way to that place before Jesus. Because even though we know Jesus will find the lost, what we see in Zacchaeus is one of the lost who sought out Jesus, as well. We don’t know why, exactly. We are not told what leads Zacchaeus to seek out Jesus. If he had some big revelation. Or maybe he came to see the error of his ways. Maybe he became unhappy with his life. We do not know. All we can tell is that he is trying with everything he has to get to Jesus. Whatever happened in his life, he seems to know that even though he is lost in the wilderness of his old life as a tax collector, he has a sense that if he can find Jesus and know who Jesus is, he might find his way out. Have you ever had this feeling? When we have this feeling can we respond as Zacchaeus does, by saying yes, and…by letting go. Letting go of our self-image, letting go of our ego, letting go of our possessions if need be? Letting go of those things that we have built our identities around in order to accept that part of our identity that is revealed to us in Christ.
So, this is also a story of Jesus saying “Yes, and…” and being improvisational in his ministry. Zacchaeus has made an unexpected gesture in his attempts to find Jesus. He has climbed a tree and cast aside his dignity all in the name of finding Jesus and transforming his life. Again, if we remember the Sunday school song, we know that Jesus’ initial response is to say, “Zacchaeus! Get down from there!” And so, he does. This is not a rejection of Zacchaeus, however. This is Jesus acknowledging him, letting him know that he has found Jesus, and Jesus has found him. This is Jesus’ “Yes” to Zacchaeus. His “and” comes next, when Jesus tells Zacchaeus that he will come and join him in his house. Now Zacchaeus is not only found and acknowledged by Christ, but he is being honored by Christ. Honored in front of a crowd of people, so that all who witness this know that Jesus’ ministry and love extends even to hated tax collectors. This leads Zacchaeus to make another “yes, and…” gesture. He gives up half of his wealth, and he makes a promise that, going forward, he will not defraud or rip off anyone else, and that those people he has taken from in the past will be repaid. So, once again, we see Zacchaeus making a commitment to follow Jesus by giving something up. In this case, a large part of the wealth that he has accumulated through his work as a tax collector. Wealth that has brought him his status and reputation in the community. (And, also much hatred from that community.)
This story illustrates that an improvisational faith leads to the unexpected. Of course, Jesus was always doing the unexpected, but following Jesus, finding Jesus in our lives, means we can be called to do the unexpected as well. Zacchaeus unexpectedly decided to turn his life over to following Jesus. He unexpectedly let go of his public image to run and climb a tree so he could find Jesus. He unexpectedly gave up his wealth to help others, those who Jesus wanted to help. He showed us that saying “Yes, and…” to Jesus can lead us to open up our world to new and unexpected possibilities. The story shows us that saying “yes” to Jesus might mean saying “no” to something else. It might mean saying “no” to the demands of our ego. It might mean saying “no” to materialism, it might mean saying “no” to oppressive systems in our communities. Because when we say “no” to the obstacles that keep us lost and separated from Jesus, it helps us to realize and say “yes” to our true identity in Christ. As beloved children of God, who can change and transform and contribute to the healing of the world. Now, if someone would just write a Sunday school song about that.
Amen.